Chapter Eight: A Thousand Miles of Bright Moon
In early May, Xiang Wan's tombstone was erected before the cemetery on the back mountain of Kongyun Mountain. Beside the grave, Zhou Wei personally planted a pine tree. The graves of the deceased cultivators of Kongyun Mountain are all located on a large flat area high up on the back mountain, facing the rising clouds and towering peaks. Planting pine trees beside the graves is a tradition passed down through the Kongyun Mountain lineage. The establishment of Kongyun Mountain is the result of the hard work and lives of many predecessors. Currently, Kongyun Mountain has only reached the third generation of sect leader, but from a distance, the area already appears as a small pine forest.
As everyone departed, Chen Duan, now the oldest cultivator on Mount Kongyun, turned back to look at the land where her senior brothers and sisters lay in eternal rest. She had grown from the youngest to the oldest, yet the harassment from the evil spirits had never ceased. A complex mix of emotions welled up within her; a lingering ache filled her heart as she pondered how she could act to ensure she could rest in peace in the afterlife.
"Master, what are you thinking about?" Yu Qiao, who had come back specifically for this occasion, accompanied Chen Duan at the very back as they descended the mountain.
“I always feel that everything is unpredictable,” Chen Duan said, both answering Yu Qiao’s question and expressing his own feelings. “To prevent any accidents from happening, I still have some things to do.”
The weather has turned completely warm. Although the monks can use magic to block the effects of natural changes on them, so as not to perish from the severe cold and scorching heat, simply enjoying the good season is the most comforting thing. However, the monks' work cannot be neglected.
Pei Xuanzhen punished Zhou Wei by making him follow Huang Jing to farm in Nanshan. These days, he has been living in Qinde Residence on the mountain, meeting Huang Jing at Hegeng Hall every day. Nanshan of Kongyun Mountain belongs to the Medicine Sect and is used to grow the grains and medicinal herbs needed in the mountain. Part of the grain is transported down the mountain, and part is sent to Hegeng Hall for cooking and distribution to various cultivators. Thus, Hegeng Hall is the southernmost place besides the Medicine Sect.
As planned, Zhou Wei would set off from his new residence in Kongyun Mountain early every morning, carrying his hammer, to He Geng Tang to prepare for breakfast. Farming was much more tiring than Zhou Wei had imagined; after only five days, he could barely get up in the mornings. For the first few days, Zhou Wei was the first to arrive, but on the morning of the sixth day, he dragged himself to the outside of He Geng Tang and found that Ming Jin and Pang Ming had already arrived. The two were sitting under a wooden shelf outside the door, around a large pot of pink and yellow roses in the corner, talking quietly about something.
The wooden frame is where the chefs at He Geng Tang prepare vegetables daily. Four round logs support a square wooden roof, beneath which sits a low bamboo table, five bamboo chairs, and several small stools. Upon seeing Zhou Wei arrive, Ming Jin invited him to sit down and told Chef Zhou that the food wasn't ready yet and they should wait outside.
"Changqi, do you still remember Elder Banrui?" Mingjin asked as Zhou Wei sat down.
“I remember. He’s an elder from Juxia City. He came to Master’s hometown to investigate before.” Zhou Wei thought for a moment and said, “Why are you suddenly bringing him up? Did he find out something?”
“We did find some things, but they have nothing to do with what happened at Elder Xiang’s house,” Ming Jin said. “Master Mu and I encountered a group of cultivators kidnapping people outside. Master Mu felt something was strange. In addition, that place is close to Juxia, so he asked the sect leader to send a message to Elder Juxia. Yesterday, the sect leader received a reply saying that Elder Ban found traces of the evil spirit barrier when he was investigating in that area, and he is now leading people to investigate.”
"Although it's a good thing, it would be an even greater good thing for me if we could find the evil spirit that attacked us." Although this moment was important, unfortunately, he didn't have a deep relationship with Zhou Wei, so he failed to attract Zhou Wei's attention.
Seeing that Zhou Wei wasn't interested, Pang Ming gave Ming Jin a wink, signaling her to say something interesting.
“When I went out to hunt ghosts yesterday,” Zhou Wei, who had his hands behind his head and was leaning back in his chair, turned his head away when he saw Ming Jin speaking to him and hummed in response, “I passed by Deng Lin’s house.”
Zhou Wei winked, gesturing for Ming Jin to continue, leaving the audience in suspense.
“She has three younger brothers, right? When I arrived, her eldest brother and her father had gone to work in the fields, leaving her mother and two younger brothers at home. Her injury had almost healed, and when she saw me, she sat with me at their house for a while, and then accompanied me for a walk for about fifteen minutes. And then…”
Zhou Wei was curious to see what tricks Ming Jin would pull this time, but to his surprise, she suddenly took out a white cloth bag from her pouch, with something heavy hanging in front of Zhou Wei.
"What's this?" Zhou Wei asked, straightening up as he took it from Ming Jin's hand.
"Just open it and you'll know." Pang Ming sat behind Zhou Wei, patted his shoulders with both hands, and looked over Zhou Wei's right shoulder as he watched Zhou Wei open the package.
Inside were some dried flowers and grasses, which looked dark and unremarkable at first glance.
“It was made by Deng Lin himself,” Ming Jin said with a grin. “It’s said to clear the lungs and reduce internal heat, making it perfect for people who are feeling depressed or frustrated.”
Zhou Wei then neatly packed the package and put it into his pouch.
"Aren't you going to go see for yourself?" Pang Ming moved from Zhou Wei's right shoulder to his left shoulder, grabbed Zhou Wei's shoulders with both hands, and shook Zhou Wei's upper body back and forth. "You haven't gone to see her since you broke up with her in Xia City, have you? Be careful that if too much time passes, she'll forget about you."
“It’s not that I don’t want to go. I’m still under punishment. The sect leader won’t even let me go down to Kongyun Mountain. I can’t just quit my work and tell the sect leader I want to go out and find someone. The sect leader punished me to farm for half a year, and I’ve only been working for five days,” Zhou Wei said dejectedly. “To be honest, I originally planned to do well and ask Senior Sister Huang to put in a good word for me so that the sect leader would ask me to let him go for two days. But I’m already exhausted after only five days.”
"It's alright. If this job were easy, the sect leader would have already found someone to do it." Pang Ming patted Zhou Wei's head to reassure him.
"The sect leader probably just wants you to save time and get to work quickly by letting you live on the mountain. Don't get the wrong idea, don't think the sect leader is going to imprison you." Ming Jin picked a small, pale yellow wildflower from the muddy ground outside the wooden frame and tucked it behind Zhou Wei's ear. "If you don't believe me, go ask Yuan Xi. The sect leader will definitely just tell her that he found her a helper."
Just then, Huang Jing arrived.
Huang Jing and Pang Ming both lived in the Medicine Sect's residence. Although Ming Jin lived in Changhe Town, Du Gewen required his disciples to spar with him for fifteen minutes every morning before breakfast to observe their progress. Mu Ning heard about this and found it very beneficial, so she adopted it. Now, Ming Jin goes to the Star Gazing Platform to find Mu Ning before coming down for breakfast every day.
Seeing the three people sitting outside, Huang Jing knew the food wasn't ready yet. Noticing their varied expressions, Huang Jing asked curiously, "What are you all talking about?"
"Yuanxi, what did the sect leader say to you when he sent Changqi over to help you with the work?"
“He didn’t say anything,” Huang Jing thought for a moment, “He just sent Shihe to tell me that the person I needed to help with the work has been found. He also reminded me that Changqi will have to go to the sect leader’s place in six months. He and Tianyi are waiting for Changqi to go.”
Just as Huang Jing sat down, the four of them saw Gao Dai and Chu Ying walking over together. However, both of them had droopy eyelids and walked up the stone steps with hesitant steps.
"Tianzuo, did you go to Master's?" Mingjin asked.
Du Gewen and Rong Shao also live on Kongyun Mountain, but on the north side. They should take the northern path like Zhou Wei, instead of taking the southern path like Chu Ying who lives in Xiachanghe Town.
"No, Master exempted me from my morning lessons today," Gao Dai said listlessly.
"What happened?" Pang Ming couldn't help but be curious when two of the three people, who were usually the most boisterous, suddenly became like this.
“Last night,” Chu Ying said, stretching her arms, “two of the newcomers had already explored all of Changhe Town in the past few days, and they were unhappy that newcomers weren’t allowed to go up the mountain. So after lights out yesterday, they sneaked up the mountain together, but the other disciples secretly told us. Outside the barrier, Kongyun Mountain is a remote, uninhabited forest, so we were terrified and had to rush up the mountain to find them. We didn’t find them until late at night. The two of them were exhausted, and it was cold in the middle of the night. One of them couldn’t walk and fell down the mountain, his foot swollen. We had to carry him down. We didn’t fall asleep in the academy until almost dawn. We woke up hungry not long after, and they went up the mountain together to find food.”
“Master Chen already knows, and I don’t know how to deal with the two of them,” Gao Dai said, resting his chin on his hand on the table. “They’ll probably be sent back. If they stay and continue doing this kind of thing, we’ll be living in fear for the rest of the year, and we won’t have any good days.”
The bell rang inside He Geng Tang, and several people got up and went inside. Breakfast was usually porridge and flatbread with side dishes, though the chef might change it if he was in a good mood. The manager of He Geng Tang was named Miao Sheng, and he was forty years old. He was in charge of everything in the kitchen, big and small. He was responsible for receiving the grain from the Medicine Sect and preparing provisions for the cultivators who spent the night exorcising evil spirits. He loved tending to his plants, and the roses by the door were his treasures. He had a deep grudge against the Medicine Sect because they kept cats and dogs in their fields. Whenever these cats and dogs got off the mountain, they would run into Manager Miao's flowerbeds and roll around, biting the newly sprouted leaves, which infuriated Manager Miao so much that he would chase them for miles every time.
“However, this whole mountain adventure might not end so easily,” Gao Dai said, munching on a pancake. “The newcomers who leaked the information to us said that someone among them was spreading the word that there’s a magical pouch on Kongyun Mountain that can continuously produce gold. If you can get your hands on this treasure, you can live a life of luxury outside of Kongyun Mountain. I don’t know if it touched someone’s heart, but yesterday they risked going up the mountain.”
"Do you know exactly where this magical artifact is?" Huang Jing asked.
“Maybe there are rumors about such a place, but the person who told us about it thought it was absurd and didn’t bother to find out, so they don’t know, and neither do we.” Chu Ying finished speaking, took a big gulp of porridge, and sighed, “My back aches, my head hurts, and I wish Master could excuse me from my lessons today.”
"Where is Elder Yan?" Zhou Wei asked.
"I took Senior Brother Chi out to hunt ghosts, and we haven't returned all night," Chu Ying replied.
The group fell silent and ate their breakfast quietly, as Ji Zhen and Mei Chong continued to walk in through the door. Chen Du and Fu Nai arrived carrying lunchboxes, saying they were taking them back for Pei Xuanzhen. Kongyun Mountain had a rule that one didn't need to greet others during meals, so everyone simply exchanged greetings and then ate their own food.
"Tian Guang, how long will you be out hunting ghosts with Elder Mu today?" Huang Jing asked.
Both of them had finished eating, but Mingjin was waiting to get some dry rations, so she hadn't gotten up yet.
"I don't know, but I hope to come back soon. I hate chasing ghosts in the middle of the night. It makes my eyes blurry, and they might even get away in the end."
It's common for people to have blurry vision. For example, Chi Hui, who just entered, had dull, bloodshot eyes and streaked hair sticking to his forehead and temples. He carried his food to Chu Ying and sat down next to her. Before starting to eat, he suddenly slammed his head on the table to gather some strength for eating.
"Where is Master?" Chu Ying asked.
"I went home. Master said he wouldn't check today's lessons." Hearing this, Chu Ying felt a weak sense of relief, then asked, "What kind of formidable opponent did you encounter? Why are you only coming back now?"
"We were kept in the dark by those few things all night," Chi Hui sat up, took a pancake in one hand and chopsticks in the other and started eating. "Although their overall cultivation level wasn't high, their speed far surpassed the evil spirits we'd encountered before. It took my master and me to corner them and completely defeat them. It was a waste of so much effort to deal with just a few small fry."
Zhou Wei comforted him, saying that this was to prevent a troublesome opponent in the future. However, Chi Hui's description reminded Huang Jing of what Ming Jin had encountered, so he quietly asked Ming Jin, "When you and Elder Mu ran into the group from Huicheng last time, was it also an opponent like this?"
"Probably. If these evil spirits possess similar abilities not by coincidence, then it means that they are undergoing changes we are unaware of. It's truly chilling. The elders of Juxia City are investigating what happened last time, and they will probably make new discoveries soon."
Manager Miao called out for everyone to get their provisions. Ming Jin got up, took his things, and left He Geng Tang with Huang Jing and Zhou Wei. The three parted ways at the door and went about their respective business.
Mingjin was going to go ghost hunting with Mu Ning, but Mu Ning was picky about food and didn't like eating the same thing every day, so sometimes she would go to Changhe Town in the morning to find something different to eat to satisfy her cravings. She wasn't sure which house she would eat at, so she arranged to meet Mingjin under the big locust tree on the west side of the village, and then follow the clues given by Chen Duan to go to the destination to exorcise the evil spirits.
On a fine, sunny day, Mingjin felt his vision was excellent, making it easier to spot hidden evil spirits. Upon encountering an enemy, he decisively attacked and exorcised the evil spirit. Mu Ning occasionally refrained from intervening, letting Mingjin deal with the spirit alone while he stood at a distance watching, pointing out any shortcomings after the battle. The two chased the evil spirit all day as usual, until the moon rose above the treetops, at which point Mu Ning decided to call it a day.
Hearing Mu Ning call to stop, Ming Jin planned to take a sip of water, but when he picked up the water gourd, he found it unusually light. He shook it and found that there was no sound inside.
"Master Mu, do you have any more water?"
Watching Mingjin shake his empty gourd, Mu Ning took out her own gourd from her pouch. Water flowed down into another gourd, the sound of the flowing water particularly clear in the open space, even seeming to echo.
Mingjin, who was staring at the water, suddenly had an idea: "I really want to have a sip of hot tea."
As soon as Mingjin finished speaking, he suddenly felt a bright light pierce his eyes. After struggling to open his eyes, he found that there was no moonlight around him. It was a very bright place, and although the sky was blue, neither the sun nor the moon could be seen. The two of them were standing together by the roadside, one side against a wall, while strange human figures moved about on the other side of the main road.
A teapot suddenly rose slowly beside them, and then a voice said, "Would you two like some hot tea?"
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